Daylight Moon

Something special happened here a few days ago. The moon was out in the middle of the afternoon. I know most of you have seen this kind of thing before, but I've never seen any other photos like these before.

On my way home from work, just as I was getting close to home, I happened to look up in the sky and saw the moon big in the sky. I knew I wanted to get a few pictures of it as soon as I saw it. This isn't something that happens every day.

I've been trying to get a few photos of the moon for a little while now, but the darkness outside always helps mess up the pictures. I do have a few night photos that aren't too bad, that I might put up here, but this daylight situation was perfect. It helped the features of the moon come out pretty well.

You can see what everyone around here calls "The Man In The Moon". It looks like it has a face, and it's looking down at us. I always watch for that face when I look up in the sky at night, but when I get to see it during the day it's that much more special for me.

I actually have about three dozen photos of this daylight moon, because I wanted to be sure I got at least a few decent shots. I wasn't sure how well any of them would come out, so I took a lot of them. I kept going until I was satisfied that I had a few good ones. I got lucky and they were almost all good, so I have a moon photo for any situation.

This second photo is kind of special. It's not just a normal shot of the moon that is zoomed out. Look in the top right area. Those little black spots in the sky are actually a flock of birds flying towards the center of the photo. If you click on the photo, you can see them more clearly, when the bigger size loads.

When I took these pictures, I never saw these birds at all. I had no idea that they were even there. It was when I was going through all of these photos that I first saw that there were birds in this one. I always say on here that I have trouble getting pictures of flying birds. Now I got one without even trying.

I put this last photo here to give you some perspective on what I was actually seeing when I looked up into the sky. You can see where the moon actually was from where I was standing. You can see the sunshine on the trees in the field, and the moon hanging over the whole scene. It was a wonderful sight.

We just happened to get lucky and have a nice clear day that day. It hasn't been like this most of the time around here lately. We've had winter snowstorms on most days. That day it was clear and bright. The sky was a nice shade of blue that enhanced the whole scene. It made it that much easier to see the moon. It looked look so big up there in the sky, almost as if it was put up there just for me.

I remember seeing on a few movies and TV shows how they would show two people in different locations looking up at the same moon. They both wondered if the other one was looking at the moon too. I guess it was a way to show some sort of connection between the two of them. I wonder who else was looking at this moon when I was?


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Alice And The Amazing Hawk

Here it is! This is the last thing Alice and I saw on our magical hiking adventure. I don't usually take so long getting through only one day of an everyday adventure, but as many of you already know, this was a special and wondrous day. We saw some remarkable things, and this might be the best.

It happened just after I stopped Alice from her attempt to roll down the hill, and resume her chase of the rabbit she saw last summer. I was tired and ready to leave for home. We were very close to the front of this huge nature park, and I didn't expect to see anything more. Boy, was I wrong!

As we walked around to the front of the nature center building, the parking lot was almost in view. Alice suddenly pointed up to a very high spot in one of the tall trees we were moving towards. She said, "Look, there's something moving up there!" I looked around everywhere, but I had to tell her that I didn't see what she was talking about.

She said there was something white, high up in one of the trees. I still couldn't find it, so she had to give me a few specific directions, and I finally saw it. It was a hawk! This was an amazing sight! This is the very first time I have ever seen one of these big birds.

Alice really found something special this time. How does she do it? It took me so long to see this bird, but she saw it right away. It was almost as if the hawk appeared there so she wouldn't have to leave yet. I'm not sure if I can describe how excited I was to see this beautiful creature.

It was very far up in the tree. It was so far up that it was very difficult to see for both of us. Luckily the view screen of the camera could zoom in like a telescope. I saw it there, and told Alice what I was seeing. She knew I was excited about it, but I don't think she understands yet what a great thing she found.

I told her what a great thing she did. That's when she insisted that I let everyone know that she was there, and that she was the one that found the hawk. She was now very pleased with herself, and rightly so. Not only did she prolong our stay at the park, but she also spotted this majestic bird.

I did some research later on about this hawk, so I now believe that it specifically is called a Red-Tailed Hawk (Buteo Jamaicensis). I may be wrong about this information, but I couldn't find another bird that looked quite like this one. The descriptions I've read seem to fit the description of this bird very well. I know that there is at least one of you readers that might be able to figure this out very easily.

Seeing the gaze of this bird firsthand was simply amazing. The look in it's eyes could scare even the bravest creature. These birds look like the great predators that they are. This one was perched up there in the tree scanning the area around it, possibly looking for new prey. I'm sure it saw us easier than we saw it.

I told Alice several times that it was time to leave, but I kept taking more photos. I couldn't stop myself. This was a great opportunity, and I was completely fascinated. All I could seem to do was take more pictures, and tell Alice what a wonderful thing we were seeing. We must have stood there like that for ten minutes watching that bird.

Finally, after my inability to stop taking pictures and walk away, the hawk decided for us. It suddenly leapt into the air and flew away. I got one photo just as it spread it's wings and began it's flight. After that, I was too slow, as usual. This last photo isn't a very good one, but it captures the beginning of the flight, which is the important thing.

The departure of this wonderful hawk also marks the departure of our wonderful little Alice. I'll sadly have to continue my adventures alone for awhile. Alice has gone back home, and what we have left are these stories of our little adventure in Wonderland.

There are more adventures to come for me, and I'm sure Alice will return from time to time. It will now be time to catch up on some of my everyday adventures since that day, and the journeys yet to come. I hope all of you enjoyed this chronicle of that day with my little friend Alice. I'll be back tomorrow with an all new adventure.


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